DESCRIPTION: This is a request for partial support for a conference on Biology of Aging: Mechanisms and Implications to be held in conjunction with the 1997 Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), which will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio from November 15-17, 1997. The goals of the meeting are to present high quality scientific seminars in many of the critical areas of experimental gerontology, and to provide an attractive forum for interactions among researchers who work on laboratory studies of the biology of aging. The conference will feature invited symposia on the following topics: 1. Nerve Cell Death in the Aging Brain: Does it Occur and Does it Matter? (P. Coleman, M. West, M. Gallagher, C. Barnes) 2. Aging Under Glass: Differentiated Cells for Analysis of in Vitro Senescence. (J. Campisi, E. Merano, P. Hornsby) 3. Growth Hormone, IGF-1 and Aging. (W. Sonntag, E. Van Cauter, O. Delbone, D. Kalu) 4. Lifespan Extension by Dietary Manipulation: New Directions. (J. Zimmerman, J. Nelson, A. Schwartz, A. Richardson) 5. Trophic Factors in Neurodegeneration and Normal Aging of the Brain. (Gash, J. Kordower, P. Lapchak, G. Gerhardt) 6. Finding New Genes for Aging. (D. Burke, J. Curtsinger, D. Mouton, J. Oshima) 7. Oxidative Stress in Senescence: Molecular Targets for Damage and Repair. (R. Weindruch, R. Levine, T. Oberly, B. Mossman). 8. Mechanistic Biology from a Darwinian Perspective: Promising Avenue or Cul-De-Sac? (R. Miller, S. Austad, D. Promislow, C. Finch). 9. Exercise and Metabolic Adaptation: From Epidemiology to Cell Biology and Back Again. (G. Cartee, S. Blair, J. Kirwan, D. Seals). Funds are requested to provide reimbursement of a portion of the registration costs and partial travel expenses for 20 invited speakers who are not members of the GSA, and a limited reimbursement for 8 invited speakers who are GSA members. In addition, funds are requested to provide travel support for five students/trainees selected by competition, who will present their research findings in a Student Prize Symposium.